The Wildcats were the favorite to win, despite the Miners 23-0 season. He is talking about a team of aggressive, good players. In "Glory Road," the 2006 Disney movie about Texas Western, Miners coach Don Haskins tells his team the day before the championship that he will play only blacks the next night to make a social. all black. probably wonder what all the fuss is about. team had ever started five blacks in an NCAA championship game. The night before that team meeting of Black players in his motel room, Lattin sat at the Cole Field House with his team and watched the first half of the Kentucky-Duke game. Please check the opt-in box to acknowledge that you would like to subscribe. There was so little madness surrounding the It first signedCharlie Brown in 1956. He was on the Duke freshman team, Lattin said. Its idiotic. Joseph Ray tried to move Haskins in the opposite direction. Watch the full historic 1966 NCAA Championship between Texas Western and Kentucky. After Texas Western beat Utah in the first semifinal, Lattin rushed out to watch Kentucky-Duke. The Miners roster consisted of seven African-Americans. The team won the national championship in 1966, becoming the first team with an all-black starting lineup to do so. More than 40 years later, we remember - and cherish - the game that changed basketball forever. JoJo White rushed down the floor and heaved one up from the left side as time ran out. I feel embarrassed by it., Lattin said Cager has talked about writing a controversial book for 25 years. On February 6, 2016, the now University Of Texas El Paso Miners held a reunion for the 1966 players at the Don Haskins Center. "Nevil (Shed)I'll never forget him saying back then," Riley said. The '66 team is inescapable in El Paso. Orsten Artis had 16, Bobby Joe Hill 14, Willie Cager 12, David Lattin 10 and Harry Flournoy 10. "And I guess there is a certain justice to that. 5:57 pm ET. During Black History Month, with the series 28 Black Stories in 28 days, USA TODAY Sports examines the issues, challenges and opportunities Black athletes and sports officials face after the nations reckoning on race in 2020. Lattin remembers Haskins telling him so many times about that player. "and implied, needed the steadying hand of a white teammate. I was very disappointed we didnt go to the White House or Ed Sullivan. Adolph Rupp, Kentuckys coach from 1930-1972, recruited almost exclusively inside Kentucky, earning the nickname The Baron of Bluegrass. Like many other coaches of the era, Rupp did not recruit African American players. That was about it. The Shadow League is a narrative company. He loved us.". She heldhis hand during the flight. Watch the 1966 NCAA Championship game now and you'll David Lattin had 14 points, seven rebounds. Haskins fumed at his counterpart's reaction. And already on the team when Haskins arrived was Nolan Richardson, who went on tobecome the first Black coach at a major university in the south at Arkansas. Oklahoma City opened with a flurry but Texas Western finished with a flurry. probably never crossed Don's mind," said his assistant, Moe Iba. They never trailed again. Texas Western broke open a close game in the second half and raced away to take a 76-64 victory over Seattle University Thursday night, Jan. 6, 1966, in Memorial Gym. characterized the game as "one of the most wretched (stories) in the history 1965: Miners take opening game, beat ENMU. "We didn't see Black and white. She took his hand and walked him through the airport. Miami Heat President Pat Riley Reflects on 50th Anniversary of Texas Western Win Pat Riley and his teammates on Kentucky's all-white squad lost the 1966 national championship game to little. Shed and Flournoy led the Miners in rebounding with 10 each. High in the bleachers, Kentucky fans wave a It didn't win as many games as his . 7 Related Question Answers Found. The 1965-66 Texas Western Miners basketball team represented Texas Western College, now the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), led by Hall of Fame head coach Don Haskins. "(He) carried the As basketball lore has told a thousand times since, Texas Western did beat Adolph Rupp's Kentucky Wildcats in the 1966 NCAA championship. His mom told him he could go on one condition: He had to promise to let Cager and Shed take care of him if he got into any trouble. Bobby Joe Hill offered a bit of foreshadowing for that championship game against Kentucky, picking off four steals from East Texas and turning each one into an easy, uncontested layup in front of 3,800 fans in Memorial Gym. The Miners, ranked fourth in the nation, improved to 18-0 with the win. Hill faked right, went left and took the inbounds pass. The watershed game highlighted the end of racial segregation in college basketball. The Miners, on the strength of their 86-68 win over No. 3 of 13. Bobby Joe Hill led the Miners with 24 points. Riley was a junior starter on Rupp's Kentucky team in 1966 and, he said, these playerswere young men, barely out of that lanky teenage stage. In the 1966-67 season, The Rams took a two-point lead in the final two minutes but a Lattin dunk leveled the game at 66-66 with 1:28 to play. But before Haskins arrived in El Paso for the 1961season, the college had already been recruiting Black players. 2023 www.indystar.com. The team was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007 would dissolve into chaos. David Lattin and Willie Worsley made free throws and Hill made a driving layup. Texas Western, playing its third game in six days, traveling from Tucson to Albuquerque and back to Memorial Gym, edged Arizona State 69-67 Monday night, Feb. 14, 1966. [5] and inspired the book and film Glory Road. There's not much drama, very little passion, and, in basketball at the time, but the ideal foils for Haskins and Texas Western. But it was on the boards that the Miners truly dominated this game. Black athletes, prevailing wisdom That, again, was nearly opposite the reality. It was a special beginning to a special season. Lattinscored 16 points and had nine rebounds while Rupp's words from that press conference echoed in his mind. 1961 - TWC trains the nation's first Peace Corps class. Arizona State led 30-29 at the half but Texas Western went on a run to open the second half and led by eight points with 15 minutes to play. stupid sons of bitches!' The victory, according to sportswriters, analysts and prognosticators was a watershed event because it encouraged other predominantly white schools to recruit African-American players, ending years of shameful and evil segregation. The Miners ran their record to 8-0 with a dominating second half performance. The Wildcats, whose only previous loss "I'm proud of them, I'll tell you for sure," TWC coach Don Haskins said. Those words, though, he never once felton the court in that game. The NCAA title game had yet to morph into March Madness when Kentucky and So are the Willie Worsley added 11 points for Texas Western. Although the uprising was part of a larger one . The Miners led Seattle 34-30 at the half but moved out to a 15 point lead midway through the final half. There was no all-tournament team selected. "We have to cross the aisle. 1966: Seattle wins, 74-72, to end Miner string. Williams wanted to see the mystique of Kentucky firsthand and he was curious about the Miners since virtually no one outside of El Paso, Texas, had seen them play. Arizona led four times, each time by one point. Arizona State cut the lead to 62-61 with five minutes remaining. Ray suggested Texas Western, ranked 6th in the nation, ripped New Mexico State 104-78 in front of a standing room only crowd of 5,201 in Memorial Gym on Tuesday night, Feb. 1, 1966. "If you get too high, it's a long fall down. "Without question, it was one of the most significant, impactful college sporting events in the history of our country.". The clutch victory kept the 6th-ranked Miners' undefeated season alive, improving their record to 16-0 in front of an excited crowd of 8,030 fans. Then Haskins turned to them and said they needed to go to bed, to rest up. In 2006, Texas Western players watched a screening of Glory Road at the White House with President George W. Bush. The Miners tried to even things with shot after shot down the stretch. Texas Western romped past the University of South Dakota in the opening round of the Mississippi Valley Cage Classic Tuesday night, Dec. 21, in Rockland, Ill. have to change or become increasingly noncompetitive nationally," wrote Hill played the second half, scored 17 points and got the Miner offense rolling, leading them to their sixth straight victory, a commanding 83-65 decision over Fresno State. It wasn't a racial issue at the time. But the Miners came right back, took the lead and led 43-37 at the half and never trailed again. That game has been sold out for weeks. The crowd is white. Still, Haskins took it a step further than schools in the south were doing and heplayed his Black players. Throughout the season, the Texas Western players faced racial discrimination and bullying. Cager later made two free throws to give Texas Western a 76-72 lead. "It's just one of those things that sticks out to me about that game.". Afterward, he realized he hadnt shaken hands with his worthy opponents. The Miners shot 50.8 percent from the field and held the Aggies to just 34.1 percent. Don Haskins was not some rookie coach as the film portrays, he was in his fifth year at the school. The Miners, ranked 9th in the nation, improved to 12-0 on the season with the Thursday night win. I wish at that time we could haveall just embraced each other.'". He was a tough guy, but were all tough. Thats when people started talking about it, Lattin said. Determined to put an end to it, Haskins fielded an all-black team on that fateful night. In stark contrast, the final game of the 1966 NCAA Tournament holds a place in civil rights history. Utah's Jerry Chambers was the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player and the tournament's leading scorer with 143 points. The 6th-ranked Miners smothered West Texas State defensively to take a 69-50 win Saturday night, Jan. 29, 1966, in Memorial Gym. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. During halftime of the Texas Western game, he reportedly referred to the Miners as coons, as ESPN reports. I told him you should write a book.. Essentially, the final game pitted Kentucky's offense against Texas Western's defense, and it was the defense that held up.". And so in that historic game that Lattinand his fellow players really didn't know was historic "we passed the ball a lot and we would shoot a lot. It was as if history demanded that for change finally to occur, a great hero Chambers still managed to score 38 points in the game. UTEP honored the 1966 team earlier this month during a ceremony that includes messages from President Barack Obama, Nike co-founder Phil Knight, film producer Jerry Bruckheimer and ESPN commentator Dick Vitale. 1966: TWC nips Pan American, stays unbeaten. number of blacks on college teams jumped from 2.9 to 5.7. The state recently launched plans to tap into a new Biden administration immigration program to bring Ukrainians fleeing the war to work in the local oil industry. It should have been done a long time ago as far as the commitments to all the blacks being successful. The score was tied at 72-72 with two minutes to play. A big reason for the win was that the Miners outrebounded the Sun Devils 47-34. Curiously, while Oswald had been prodding Rupp, Texas Western president championship game on. David Lattin had 16 points, nine rebounds. He didnt treat African-American guys differently than white guys.. It led to the integration of college sports. Willie Worsley, Harry Flournoy, Orsten Artis, Nevil Shed and Willie Cager standing. "Hell, he'd "`They can do everything with Texas Western improved to 6-0 on the season while Fresno State, which came into this two-game series at 5-1, dropped to 5-3 on the season. Riley referred to the night as the Emancipation Proclamation of 1966.. Texas Western and Kentucky are the only two unbeaten teams remaining in the nation. We wanted to carry that trophy out of there," he said. But it was not to be. As Worsleystood in the airport in New York City to fly out to El Paso, he was nervous. Two years later, Payne had left, and Kentucky was quasi-professionals imported from Northern cities to win Haskins a universities. Dave Lattin played center, and his grandson plays Saturday for Oklahoma. Otherwise, games Texas Western simply crushed East Texas State in the second half on the way to a 73-51 win on a Thursday night, Dec. 9, in game two of that 1965-66 championship season. Texas Western edged Fresno State 75-73 on Friday night, Dec. 17, 1965 with an injured Bobby Joe Hill watching from the sidelines. This Day In 1966: Texas Western, featuring the first all-black starting lineup, beats Adolph Rupps Kentucky team to win NCAA title. athletics remained segregated. I wasnt out to be a pioneer when we played Kentucky, Texas Western coach Don Haskins told the Los Angeles Times years later. have played five kids from Mars if they were his best five players.". Texas Western made its first big statement of the season by crushing fourth-ranked Iowa 86-68 on Thursday night, Dec. 30, 1965 in the championship game of the Southwestern Sun Carnival Basketball Tournament. "Kentucky was a worn, haggard ball club when it faced Texas Westernbut that was no alibi, for Texas Western had come through a hard season, too. He always blamed the loss on a flu bug, on inept shooting, on the referees, Why? 1 Kentucky. championship. You can navigate days by using left and right arrows. We publish narratives intentionally and specifically to enlighten and transform the world. Seattle, Wash. -Seattle pulled the second major college basketball upset of the day when they edged Texas Western's second-ranked Miners, 74-72, here Saturday night, ending the Miner winning streak at 23.Texas Western was the only major undefeated college basketball team in the nation for a few hours. Technical and creative licensing issues aside, the movie is important because it exposes the story of the team that endured racism and changed the face of college basketball to a wider audience, paying homage to an accomplishment that would radically alter the face of NCAA hoops. Whites then thought that if you put five blacks on the court at the same The winners of the two games advance to Lubbock for the NCAA Regional Tournament Friday and Saturday. The year after winning the title, the school became the University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP). They are pic.twitter.com/QixgpCRVA7. Texas Western was beaten 74-72 at Seattle, Kentucky 69-62 at Tennessee. David Lattin had 16 points, 15 rebounds. Maryland's Cole Field House. Did The Flock Sign Him Or Does He Have A New Trolling Target. outside the Southwest despite its 27-1 record and its No.3 ranking. Who did the Texas Western Miners lose to Seattle or Tulsa? Black players were no longer taboo, and basketball was never the same. one shocked coach asked Haskins afterward. cheated by using ineligible players. He treated us all poor. They came from the inner cities of Detroit and Houston, and from rural areas in Missouri and Kansas. 1 person. Nevil Shed led the Miners with 19 points and Willie Worsley added 14. Willie Cager led the Miners in scoring with 18 points. One year before Texas Western won theNCAA title against Kentucky, 72-65, John Lewis led more than 600 people on a 54-mile march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capitol in Montgomery. "The fact that he was doing something historic by playing five blacks, that "For that moment in (19)66, it was simply about winning a national championship. Later that year, when he and The 72-65 victory over Kentucky in College Park, Maryland is considered one of the most important in the history of college basketball, as it marked the first time that a team with five African-American starters won a title game. Texas Western players remember Pat Riley, a Kentucky star, coming into their locker room afterward to congratulate the Miners. Walking toward the red "M" at center court, in their orange uniforms and And yet, what Texas Western accomplished that day in March 1966slowly andquietly made an impact, a ripple effect that spread year after yearand only echoed more loudly as time passed. three came within a semester of their degrees and have not suffered because All rights reserved. Texas Western's five black starters didn't catch the eyes of the country until they went up against an all-white Adolph Rupp coached Kentucky team in the national championship. By Devon POV Mason | Published on: February 22, 2021 Comments (0) The 1965-66 Texas Western Miners basketball team represented Texas Western College, now known as the University of Texas. How I wasgoing to get back to see my mother.". The Miners advanced to play Kansas Saturday night, March 12, 1966, in the Midwest Regional finals. TWC improved to 11-0 on the season, leaving the Miners and the University of Kentucky as the only two undefeated teams in the nation perhaps a bit foreshadowing. This was a landmark night and although the 1954 Brown vs Board of Education decision and Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed racial segregation in the public school system, it was still common to find all-white college sports teams, particularly in the South. Harry Flournoy scored nine points in the first half, seven more in the second half to lead the Miners with 16 points. Adolph Rupp and Don Haskins were both prejudiced, but (Haskins) decided to play the black players and he did it and, bottom line, it worked.. Bobby Joe Hill had 13 points, Orsten Artis had 10 and David Lattin, who got into first half foul trouble, had 10 points, 10 rebounds. Orsten Artis, 6-foot-1 senior guard, had his best night for the Miners this season, scoring 21 points to take the high scoring honors for the game. The win boosted Texas Western to a spotless 4-0 record and handed Weber State its first defeat, dropping the Wildcats to 3-1. I never knew that. Worsley said he never felt any discrimination being Black in college. He said it was probably the worst day of his life when he lost that game, but he felt the right team won because it did so much for others. Nevil Shed intercepted an in-bounds pass and dropped in a lay-up and the two teams went into overtime, knotted at 58-58. TWC will return home to Memorial Gym for the final home game of the season Saturday. The Miners led by five with 1:17 to go in regulation but Kansas scrambled back to tie it 69-69 and force overtime. This is where history and Hollywood converge, and new truths become part of the story. 1966: Texas Western Miners win 22nd, down Rams. It'slike a Jackie Robinson moment,"said Derrick Gragg, the NCAA's senior vice president for inclusion, education and community engagement. The Miners, who shot just 37.1 percent to 54.5 percent for Arizona State, held on for the win. 1966: TWC dumps New Mexico State Aggies, 73-56. "Rod Hundley, the former West Virginia and Lakers star, had the funny That move by a bearish white man didn't come without controversy. Copyright 2023 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. On this date in 1966, Texas Western (now called UTEP) becomes the first team to start 5 African-Americans in the NCAA Tournament title game, beating a Kentucky team (72-65) that included Pat Riley. Orsten Artis led the Miners with 22 points. Texas Western met that Saturday night, March 19, 1966, in the University of Bobby Joe Hill led the Miners offensively with 19 points. I knew it as the championship game. It was a day that would become known as "Bloody Sunday" as white troopers assaulted the Black marchers, beating them with nightsticks, firing tear gas. David Lattin had 18 points, Hill 17, Orsten Artis 16, Nevil Shed 12 and Harry Flournoy 11 as the Miners outscored the Bulldogs 49-33 in the second half. Texas secession movements, also known as the Texas independence movement or Texit, refers to both the secession of Texas during the American Civil War as well as activities of modern organizations supporting such efforts to secede from the United States and become an independent sovereign state.. The Miners led by as many as seven points in the first half but the Rams trimmed that lead to two, 43-41, at the half. And four when behind", things changed According to longtime Kentucky assistant Harry Lancaster's autobiography, TWC held for the last shot but Bobby Joe Hill was called for charging with seven seconds left. By then, even deep-South SEC schools like Auburn and But in the south, it was still rare to find a college sports team that wasn't all white. had not earned degrees. On March 19, 1966, fans packed Cole Field House in College Park, Maryland, to watch the matchup between Kentucky and Texas Western. UTEP outrebounded South Dakota 65-35. 1966: TWC, Cincinnati defense to clash in NCAA. Texas Western appeared to be dead in the water with 14 minutes to play Saturday night, Feb. 12, 1966, trailing New Mexico by 20 points. The Miners thrilled a record crowd of 5,212 in Memorial Gym by holding Iowa without a field goal in the first 10 minutes of the game, racing away to a 21-4 lead. major-college team had ever started five blacks in ANY game. blacks at home. Hopelessly outclassed (by Rupp's pristine Kentucky program)."
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